Trump vows to pause migration from 'Third World' nations; US to review every Green Card from 19 countries

US President Donald Trump on Thursday used a Thanksgiving message to launch a sweeping denunciation of the country’s immigration policy and vowed to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations.

In a blistering anti-immigrant screed posted to Truth Social, Trump repeated a series of unfounded claims and vowed to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries,” end federal benefits for noncitizens, and deport people he described as security risks or “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

However, the US president did not specify which countries would be targeted.

The extended rant came a day after two National Guard members assigned to patrol the capital were shot in an “ambush-style” attack.

One of the soldiers died Thursday, shortly before Trump delivered a separate video address to US troops marking the holiday.

Federal prosecutors charged Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, with carrying out the attack.

The Afghan national had entered the United States in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome.

The Biden administration program evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked with US forces and diplomats during the war.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, said Lakanwal drove across the country and opened fire without warning using a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.

Troops subdued Lakanwal at the scene before he was taken into custody.

Authorities believe he was the only gunman. Investigators have not identified a motive.

Before arriving in the United States, Lakanwal worked with the US government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” former CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.

Ratcliffe did not describe the nature of Lakanwal’s work and said the relationship ended after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Lakanwal applied for asylum under the Biden administration, but his case was approved during Trump’s term, according to #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement.

Supporters of Operation Allies Welcome say resettled Afghans underwent extensive vetting and faced significant danger from Taliban reprisals. The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the United States.

But Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly criticised the program, arguing that the vetting process was rushed and incomplete.

Following Wednesday’s attack, the Trump administration announced a review of the immigration status of all US permanent residents from Afghanistan and 18 other nations.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, on X.

A USCIS spokesperson referred reporters to a June executive order in which Trump designated 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

That order imposed a full entry ban on nationals of 12 countries — Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — and a partial ban on seven others, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

In his Thanksgiving post, Trump repeated several disputed claims about immigrants and made derogatory comments about elected officials, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

"The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both, while the worst “Congressman/woman” in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab, and who probably came into the U.S.A. illegally in that you are not allowed to marry your brother, does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country, its Constitution, and how “badly” she is treated, when her place of origin is a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation, which is essentially not even a country for lack of Government, Military, Police, schools, etc…,” Trump wrote.

Trump ended the message by wishing Americans a “Happy Thanksgiving,” except those he said “hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for.”

“You won’t be here for long!” he added.